Marc Millman

Free-form Classic Rock Radio Lives! WNEW & WPLJ return for two nights or Prisoners of 2^nd Avenue @ Bowery Electric, April 1 – 2

If you grew up in the New York Metro area from the late ’60s all the way up until the late ’80s listening to what we pathetically now call “terrestrial radio,” then the following list will put a smile on your face:

Scottso
Bruce Juice
Get The Led Out
The Nightbird
Mixed Bag
On This Rock

If you weren’t into Top 40, jazz or disco, then you tuned in to WNEW-FM “Where Rock Lives” or WPLJ-FM for “New York’s Best Rock” to listen to the people who shaped the world of what we now call classic rock. Most people today don’t know who Scott Muni, Pete Fornatele, Jim Kerr, Pat St. John, Dave Herman, Jimmy Fink, Richard Neer, Dan Neer, Jim Monaghan, Carol Miller, Tony Pigg, Vin Scelsa, John Zacherle, Jonathan Schwartz and Allison Steele are (and in some cases were). But for those of us who lived and breathed by Scott Muni starting his show off every single day with a Beatles or John Lennon song, or who tuned in to PLJ every night in order to hear Carol Miller play a block of Zeppelin, it was all so simple.

The idea of rock and roll not just being the latest single, but being the sum of the whole album which the artists worked so hard to put out meant that we understood rock as an art form. And this meant that the creators of this music – as well as the “shepherds” of the radio waves – truly were ARTISTS. And this wasn’t unique to New York City. There was KLOS in L.A. and WRIF in Detroit amongst the many.

Today, all of this is gone. Ray Davies forecasted it in 1982 with Around The Dial. Nobody puts out an album with six to ten songs that comes in at less than 44 minutes. No longer can we savor the moment when we walk into the RECORD store to buy the latest releases and smell all all that vinyl. No child today (unless he’s hip enough to own a turntable and willing to overpay for an outdated source product) will ever know the feeling that Cameron Crowe perfectly recreated in the scene from Almost Famous when William pulls out his sister’s albums from under his bed and drops the needle onto The Who’s Tommy for the first time. And NOBODY will ever again hear the type of radio that made us all fall in love with the music to begin with. Because make no mistake about it: the channels on Sirius/XM satellite radio that play old rock and roll are formula driven. There is no spontaneity. There is no whim of the DJ. No matter whose show it is today, it has all been constrained within the realm of the number crunchers. Unless of course your last name is Stern. And Howard isn’t playing music.

READ ON to see how the Prisoners of 2nd Avenue fit in…

And in the end…we can all be Fab

The Fab Faux perform Abbey Road @ the Wellmont Theater – Montclair, NJ – March 12

I never hide my aversion to “cover bands.” I mean, it’s one thing to be away on vacation and walk into a sleepy little beach bar and hear some locals playing Bob Marley or Jimmy Buffet and find yourself singing along for an hour. But it’s another thing to make it a regular occurrence. Or better yet, to try and make a career out of it.

[All photos by Marc Millman]

So, to answer the question: I am not a fan of Dark Star Orchestra – even though they put a nice twist on the formula – or Sticky Fingers. But as I have mentioned in the past, I am a fan of extremely talented studio and touring musicians getting together occasionally to play the music that inspired them to become who they are today. And under this category, you can file The Fab Faux, maybe the best there is at this “game.”

• Marc’s Fab Faux Videos: Eleanor Rigby, Come Together, Polythene Pam, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers Medley and Hey Jude

For over a decade, the band that The Late Show With David Letterman bassist Will Lee put together has been playing music of The Beatles better than anybody. If you were lucky enough to see Beatlemania at The Wintergarden Theater in the ’70s, then you can understand the feeling one gets seeing these guys play live. Jimmy Vivino, known these days as the bandleader for Conan’s Basic Cable Band plays guitar. Along with Lee & Vivino, the band features drummer Rich Pagano, guitar player Frank Agnello and Jack Petruzzelli on keyboards, guitar, bass and anything else needed.

READ ON for more from Marc about the Fab Faux…

‘On a hot Summer or cold, rainy Winter night, she’ll go Crazy On You”

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals @ Irving Plaza, March 10 & 11

For two nights last week, a tight rock band that seemed destined to be part of the “jam band” scene, took the stage at new York City’s Irving Plaza. But this group clearly has much greater ambitions. On both nights, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals cranked out two hours of “arena-style” rock in the packed club. GP&tN served up a taste of soul, blues and rock that was polished to a sheen and ready to be heard by a larger audience.

[All photos by Marc Millman]

With roots reaching back to both Vermont – Waitsfield is Ms. Potter’s hometown, and St. Lawrence University – the college where the band formed, the Nocturnals are a five-piece band that seems much like a family of close siblings. Potter sings, plays the Hammond organ, acoustic & electric guitar. Both Benny Yurco, who plays electric guitar, and bassist Catherine Popper joined the band in 2009 as part of the group’s only lineup change since forming in 2002. Scott Tournet plays lead & slide guitar and Matt Burr pounds the skins. And “pound” he does. It is fitting that the man who first approached Ms. Potter about forming the band is the true standout in the ensemble. Although all the musicians play at a high level and are exciting to watch, the energy coming from Mr. Burr with his constant smile make his enthusiasm infectious.

• Marc’s Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Videos: Mastermind, Hot Summer Night, Nothing But The Water, Paris (Ooh La La), Some Kind of Ride, Medicine and Crazy On You

Over the two nights, the band played only five songs twice. This meant that Ms. Potter was able to show off the breadth of her material. On night one, the band performed a single acoustic song with only Grace, Scott and Benny on guitars. On night two, instead of one acoustic number, they did two songs with her on acoustic and the whole band electric. Then, the lineup switched to just the three acoustic guitars as Potter strode to the mic and said, “this is our last night, so I figure we’ll pull out a cover.” After a false start on Freebird due to the usual idiotic request, she stopped and said, “you’d have to put a lot more dollar bills in my hand for me to play that.” And then the three of them took the more obscure route by performing a cover of Gillian Welch’s Elvis Presley Blues.

READ ON for more of Marc’s Musings on Grace Potter and the Nocturnals…

I’ve always been a fan of a great cover version of a song. I once mentioned in my column, Marc’s Musings, that I am not much of a fan of cover bands in general – although certain tribute bands like the Fab Faux that really excel at what they do and show a real passion for the music are exceptions to my rule. But to hear a band do their take on a song that they truly love can be a great moment.

Like in most areas, I don’t think women in rock generally get enough attention. Sure we know about the greats from the past like Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin. But it’s only through recent revivals that anyone younger than 40 might be aware of the likes of Mavis Staples or Bettye Lavette. Luckily we have Women like Joan Osborne and more recently, Joss Stone and Grace Potter to carry on the great tradition of ladies who can belt it out. So here is a mix of rockin’, funky and soulful covers by women of all ages of songs from the 60s and beyond recorded from the ’70s up through today.

Bettye Lavette is a Soul singer who’s been making the rounds since the early ’60s. And for the most part never received the acclaim she deserved. After some early success, she ended up just about giving up on the business and even went to Broadway to perform. But eventually she connected with the producer Joe Henry for the 2005 album I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise. The album is all covers of songs by other women. This track is a Fiona Apple song. Could there be a better way to start this off?

Ruth Copeland was an English girl. She married Motown producer Jeffrey Bowen and through a lucky chain of events ended up on the Invictus label at a time when George Clinton was also signed to it. She ended up co-writing several songs with George including one of my favorites for the Parliament’s Come On In Out Of The Rain. In 1971 she released her second solo album I am What I Am. The album is essentially her backed by Funkadelic. Along with five original compositions, there were two Rolling Stones covers: Play With Fire and Gimme Shelter. The latter is featured here in all its psychedelic glory. READ ON for more on this week’s Friday Mix Tape…

Nigel Hall Band @ Rockwood Music Hall, February 17

Nigel Hall moved down from Maine a year ago, and he has been very active in the New York music scene since coming to the Big Apple. As a member of the Royal Family Records musical collective that Eric Krasno spearheads, I like to think of him as Robin to Krasno’s Batman. Then again, Hall is no mere sidekick. This guy is a star on his own. And as of this week, he is now the new keyboard player in the Warren Haynes Band [version 2.0].

[All photos by Marc Millman]

So maybe it would be better to think of this growing posse of super freaks as the X-Men: Krasno as Cyclops (silent but deadly), Adam Deitch as Wolverine (crazy deadly assassin), Chris Loftlin as The Beast (a big monster with a bigger smile and heart), Nikki Glaspie as Storm (a woman to be reckoned with). And when you throw in the rest of the Lettuce/Soulive/Chapter 2 posse you have enough characters for summer blockbuster sequels to carry us into the next decade.

Since the first day of this year, I have seen Nigel sing and/or play keyboards with: George Porter, Bill Kreutzmann & Steve Kimock, Chapter 2, Lettuce with Maceo Parker and the Funky Meters. And that’s just gigs off the top of my head. But for the month of February, he has taken up a weekly residency at Rockwood Music Hall to showcase the Nigel Hall Band [actually Chapter 2 in a slight variation including two female backing vocalists]. His one-hour sets at 8PM are attracting rabid fans of classic funk and soul. But it is the soul side that is really being shown off in this intimate setting.

• Marc’s Nigel Hall @ Rockwood Videos: Baby, I Do Love You, Too Sweet Going Down, Leave Me Alone, Everybody Wants to Rule The World, Never Gonna Let You Go, I (Who Have Nothing)

Sitting at the club’s grand piano, Hall leads the band, whose lineup does vary slightly week to week, through some classic soul covers, one or two originals composed by or with co-conspirators like Eric Krasno [he either plays bass in this band or guitar depending on who else shows up] and some great re-interpretations of classic rock/pop. This week’s version of the band included Chris Loftlin (bass), Adam Deitch (drums) & Krasno (guitar & backing vocals) with Mel Flannery & Tania Jones (backing vocals).

READ ON for more of Marc’s Musings on Nigel Hall…